A Hurricane Of A Finale
Episode 20 of How I Met Your Mother season 2 titled “Okay Fine, It’s A Hurricane” picks back up from the previous episode, with Future Sophie telling her son how the hurricane made the power go out across the city. After the lights go out, the group takes shelter at Pemberton’s where Sid brings out a generator but it fails fantastically.
Jesse gets off the phone with Parker, who is at home and safe. Sophie tries to speak to him but he’s clearly still upset with her. She complains about this to Val, who asks her if she wants a tough or fluff reaction. This is their system. Tough means hard truths while fluff is unconditional support. This time, Sophie chooses fluff. She then goes looking for a drink and Drew happily hands her one.
Val finds Charlie cowering in a corner. Turns out, being abandoned by your mother during storms can have a lasting effect. She promises to show him how fun it can be instead. Just then, Hannah walks in through the door and Sid is ecstatic to see that she flew in early for him. Seeing them embrace makes Jesse try and go see Parker in person, but the force of the storm sends him back inside.
Ellen gets a text from Hannah meant for someone named Eli. As she’s wondering what the text means, Drew asks her if Sophie invited him over because she likes him and if he should try pursuing her. Ellen absentmindedly agrees to everything. She then confronts Hannah in the bathroom and Hannah admits she got drunk and kissed a colleague named Eli. Ellen thinks she should tell Sid but Hannah convinces her to keep it a secret.
Meanwhile, Val entertains Charlie and the others with a horror story. Jesse worries about Parker and tries heading out, again, but is dissuaded by the storm, again. At the same time, Ellen tells Sid a story about the couple who own the laundromat across the street. She says she saw the wife kiss someone else and asks Sid if he would want to know if it was him. He says he would. Ellen rushes over to Hannah and tells her to come clean to Sid.
Drew and Sophie are having a laugh and making drinks for each other. Drew misunderstands and tells her that he still feels a spark with her. She gently corrects him and in the process, Drew realises she’s still into Jesse.
Drew then says that he was looking for his beanie in the bar’s lost and found box one day when he came across a receipt with Jesse’s handwriting. He knew that Jesse had feelings for Sophie but kept the receipt because he thought it would ruin his own chances with Sophie. He brings it out from his wallet and hands it over to her.
While Val is playing a game with Charlie and the others, Sophie pulls Jesse away to talk to him. They go to a different room and she confronts him about the receipt. Jesse claims it was from months ago but she calls him a coward for not coming clean about his feelings. She claims to have had a reason for not confessing to him. After all, she was the one who got hurt last time.
She ends up storming back outside but Jesse follows and continues the argument in front of the others. He blames her for freaking out when he said he loves her, making her a coward too. Finally, he claims to have moved on and leaves the pub to go see Parker. As Sophie seethes in a storeroom, Val hands her a drink.
Sid goes up to Ellen and says he changed his mind about the laundromat couple and wouldn’t want to know about the kiss. Just then, Hannah comes up to talk to him. Ellen tries to stop her but Hannah has decided it’s the right thing to do.
As Charlie and Val play another game, she tells him that he hasn’t noticed the last 25 claps of thunder. This makes Charlie smile. He tells her that no matter their different opinions, if he went back in time he would do it all over again with her.
Elsewhere, Hannah tells Sid that it was a stupid, one-time kiss. Sid is stunned. He says he will forgive her in time and comes clean about how his feelings had strayed when he spoke to Taylor as well. He understands Hannah. He then asks her for a fresh start, now that they don’t have to do long distance anymore.
Hannah is relieved and wholeheartedly agrees. But when she describes how quickly she packed and left after the incident, Sid asks her why she felt the need to run away from Eli if it meant nothing.
Val goes into the storeroom to meet Sophie and gives her the hard truth this time. Compared to the fundamental deal breaker that she and Charlie have, Sophie is lucky. And she should stop sulking and go get her own drink instead of waiting for someone to hand it to her. The analogy works and Sophie decides to go get Jesse.
Once she leaves the room, Drew pops out from behind the shelves, scaring Val. He was already sulking there when Sophie walked in, but she didn’t see him and he waited too long to say anything.
Sophie goes out into the rain and bumps into Jesse right outside. He went to Parker’s apartment but as soon as he saw her, he realised that he hadn’t moved on. He still has feelings for Sophie. She finally admits that she hasn’t either and that she loves him. They kiss and Future Sophie describes it as a perfect kiss in the rain.
They enter the club together and Ellen notes that they look really happy. But then Sid enters the room, looking dejected. Ellen, understanding what’s happened, gives him a hug. A noise from the storeroom is heard and we see Val and Drew passionately making out inside.
Future Sophie tells her son that Val and Drew didn’t last long. But if that hadn’t happened, Val and Charlie would have never had Alex. She then pulls out a photograph of Val and Charlie sitting with a small boy and sets it on the table, before getting up to go get some pizza.
The Episode Review
Episode 20 of How I Met Your Father season 2 is a fun, rollicking ride of a finale. It’s not perfect, there are a couple of moments where the writing stumbles like when they have Drew ask Sophie out again. That scene isn’t really needed. But overall, we get three compelling storylines and each of those ends on an interesting note, one that will keep viewers hooked till season 3.
Sophie and Jesse’s is fairly predictable, but the actors put so much heart into their performance that watching them go from anger to resentment to joy is satisfying after a long season of will-they-won’t-they. It’s even more so because they finally say the things they’ve been keeping inside for so long.
I guess I saw the rift between Hannah and Sid coming. A drunken kiss with a co-worker is a typical take on a long-distance relationship and I was expecting something new or more nuanced. Nevertheless, it’s executed well and I truly feel for Sid. What’s interesting is the mention of Sophie in their argument. Why did Hannah assume it is her? We have seen Sophie and Sid share a great dynamic before, so could this be foreshadowing?
Val and Charlie’s relationship remains at an impasse. But that all changed with Future Sophie revealing that they have a child. This is a massive reveal from the writers and I can see how it makes sense. After all, it seems obvious that they will always have a thing so the show is confirming it to make sure we stick on. And while this is a good way to keep audiences hooked, I’d say it’s the incredibly strong characters that are doing the real job.
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